1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Exercise Apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus in which cables are drawn from the apparatus against controlled resistance, and in which the apparatus may be adjusted to accommodate different postures of the user's body for accomplishing different types of exercise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has previously been known to exercise the human body by pulling cables from an exercise machine against resistance. Such resistance is usually provided by braking devices, which impose frictional resistance on the cable or rope, or by weights utilizing the force of gravity.
Various exercises may best be accomplished by having the cable issue from the apparatus at various heights, depending on the nature of the specific exercise and the build of the person using the apparatus. Early devices typically used a plurality of cables issuing from the machine over pulleys at various heights. Examples of this approach are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 931,699 to Medart and 1,052,962 to Reach.
The number of height positions were limited by the number of cables, and the apparatus quickly became too cumbersome and complex as cables were added. To provide more vertical positions with a single cable, the art turned to mounting the egress pulley on a carriage movable vertically on the frame of the apparatus to various selected positions. Such devices are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,438,627 and 3,647,209, both to Jack La Lanne.
Vertical adjustment of the height of the exit pulley naturally changed the "run" of the cables, which normally were entrained over pulleys at the top and bottom of the apparatus frame. To accommodate this, prior devices typically used a "sheeting" pulley which could be moved vertically to take up slack or provide additional cable in accordance with requirements imposed by vertical positioning of the carriage. This further complicated the structure and imposed an additional hazard in the form of the vertically movable pulley. Typical of these devices is the structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,903 to Fack.
French Pat. No. 1.140.902 to Charpin discloses an exercise apparatus having a vertically positionable carriage and a drum device on the carriage upon which is wound the end of the cable opposite the operating handle. The drum may be secured against rotation to the carriage at desired rotative positions of the drum for taking in or letting out slack on the cable. Charpin's French Pat. No. 1.003.973 shows an exercise apparatus having a pair of cables for pulling by both hands of the user, but the exit pulleys for the cables are not positionable.
It was found to be desirable to provide varying resistance to pulling of the cable, and the prior apparatus devices utilized several schemes to afford the variable resistance. One such device, utilizing eccentric pulleys to produce varying lever arms as the cable is pulled is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,527 to Proctor, and a similar device, but with the pulleys non-circular to produce a camming action is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,261 to Lambert. Another approach, using a cam-on-lever action is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,599 to Mazman.